How a family tree led police to the Golden State Killer
After decades without a name, police used a genealogy database and family records to identify the Golden State Killer.
DNA without a name
For decades, police had DNA from the Golden State Killer's crimes, but they did not have a name to go with it. The DNA was there. The identity of the person it came from was still unknown.
In 2018, police searched a genealogy database. They found people related to the unknown killer. A relative's DNA gave police a way to trace family records, moving from the DNA they had toward a possible name.
A match and a sentence
Those family records led police to a man. Police then checked his DNA against the evidence from the crime scenes. The DNA matched.
The man's name was Joseph DeAngelo. He pleaded guilty to thirteen murders and was sentenced to life without parole. Police had started with DNA from the Golden State Killer's crimes and no name. The genealogy search and family records led them to DeAngelo, whose DNA matched the crime-scene evidence.
